Snow melting apparatus



Filed Jan. 17. 1958 Dec. 5, 1961 snow MELTING APPAR m m w m John 219E111 BY 010 mm 77m! A T TOPNE Y5 in FIG. 1, and

3,01 1,493 Patented Dec. 5, 1961 SNOW MELTING APPARATUS John Zieba, Russell Road, Woronoco, Mass. Filed Jan. 17, 1958, Ser. No. 709,650 Claims. (Cl. 126-3435) The present invention relates to snow melting apparatus.

The general object of the, invention is to provide improved apparatus for reducing: snow .to water so that it may be readily disposed of without creating an obstruction to motorists and pedestrians. L p

'A more specific object of the invention is to provide improved snow melting apparatus which will" be particularly adapted for use in removing piles of snow which are built up by snow plows in clearing streets and roads, particularly in the city where these piles of snow reduce the effective width of the'streetiand occupy badly needed parking space.

The above and other related objects, as well as the various novel features of the invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description of the disclosure found in the accompanying drawings and particular novelty thereof pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section showing an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line IlII in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section taken online III-III FIG. 4 is an elevation of a vehicle on which the device of the present invention is mounted.

A modified truck or the like, indicated generally by reference character 20 in FIG. 4, may be used to advance my improved snow melting apparatus from place to place to dispose of snow piles such as are left by plows at the sides of streets and roads. A rotary snow plow 22 is mounted on the front end of the truck 20 and is adapted through conventional means to blow snow through a chute or conduit 24 to the rear portion of the vehicle 29 to the snow melting apparatus of the present invention (which is mounted at the rear of the vehicle 20). Snow is discharged downwardly from the pipe 24 into an inner hopper 28. An outer hopper 30 is spaced from the inner hopper 28 with webs providing support therebetween. The outer hopper 30 is mounted on a casing top wall 34 which caps off the top of the casing body 36. The bottom of the casing is formed by a conical portion 38 which is supported on the frame of the vehicle 24) by channels 40. A drum, indicated generally by reference character 42, is mounted within the casing and comprises a top wall 44 through which snow is discharged from the chute 24 into the drum 42. Secured to the top Wall 44 is a cylindrical shell 46 formed of open work or perforated sheet metal, vwith the lower end of the drum 42 closed off by a bottom wall 48. A shaft 52 is disposed concentrically within the drum 42 with its upper end being rotatably received in a hearing which is supported by webs secured to the inner hopper 28. The interior portion of the drum 42 is subdivided into compartments by blades 70 and 72 (seen only in FIG. 2) which also secure the drum to the shaft 52. The shaft 52 is provided with an enlarged portion 58 which transmits the axial thrust of the drum 42 to the top wall of a gear housing 60 secured to the bottom casing wall 38. The shaft 52 continues downwardly into the gear housing 60 with a bevel gear 62 secured to its lowermost end. This gear meshes with a mating gear 64 secured to a drive shaft 66. The drive shaft 66 is driven from an appropriate motor or engine, indicated generally by reference character 68 in FIG. 4, mounted on the vehicle 20.

An annular burner 116 is mounted by legs 120 on the bottom wall 38 of the outer casing concentrically of the drum 42 and is supplied with an appropriate com-- bustible mixture throughapipe 118. Concentric annular rims 122 extend downwardly from the drum 42 to protect the burner 116 from the melted snow as it passes from the drum 42 and outwardly through a pipe 95 as will later appear. The rims 122 also guide the heated air from the flame of the burner 116- upwardly towards tubes 124 which are secured to theinner side of the shell 46. The top and bottom walls '44 and 48 and platform 69, intermediate. thereto',; are suitably apertured to pro vide for mounting ofthe tubes 124. The upper ends of .-f the tubes 124 areturned inwardly to direct heat towards .the. interior of the drum 42. A plate 125 issecured to ,.-opening 94 permits flow of the-heated air outwardly from the bottom of the drum from which it passes outwardly and upwardly between the drum and the outer casing to heat the inner hopper 28. An openwork tube 120 prevents snow from falling through the opening 94 while permitting flow of air therethrough.

To further improve the flow of heated air through the various tubes 124 there are provided scoops 128 (FIG. 3) at the lower ends of each of said tubes which are arranged to effectively facilitate the upsurgence of the heated air into the tube.

In passing it will be noted that the tubes 124 could be of most any cross-section orco'uld have radiating fins thereon, the illustrated arrangement is thus only exemplary.

In order to provide a sufficient number of tubes 124 it will be seen that access openings 74 are blocked off by portions of the tubes 124. The access openings are closed off by vertically slidable doors 76 which are mounted for vertically sliding movement on the exterior surface of the shell 46. The portions of the tubes 124 which pass along the doors 76 are secured to said doors by blocks 131 and are arranged in telescoping fashion (as indicated at 129) with the adjacent portions of the various tubes 124. Thus it is possible to bring any one of the various doors 76 into register with a door 82 in the outer casing 36 and raise such doors 76. A latch 84 normally maintains the door 82 closed. The portions of the tubes 124 secured thereto will also be raised to permit access to the interior compartment of the drum in order to remove rocks and other uncombustible materials.

The annular burner 116 provides heat for melting the snow interiorly of the drum 42 and the melted snow under the influence of centrifugal force is drawn outwardly of the performated shell 46 and is then drained through the pipe for disposal in whatever manner is most desirable.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as novel and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent in the United States is:

a 1. Snow melting apparatus including a conduit, said apparatus being adapted for mounting on a vehicle having means for directing snow along the conduit; said apparatus comprising a casing, a drum mounted therein for rotation about a generally vertical axis, said drum having a central opening in its upper end disposed beneath said conduit to receive snow therefrom and an openwork peripheral shell, a plurality of vertical tubes mounted within said drum adjacent said shell and extending throughout its longitudinal length, said tubes each being spaced an equal radial distance from said axis, an annular burner formed on said radial distance and disposed beneath said drum, the bottom of said drum being apertured "to permit the passage of heated air through said tubes to melt the snow in said drum, and means for rotating said drum to throw the melted snow therefrom under the influence of centrifugal force.

2. Snow melting apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the vertical tubes are open at their tops and baffiing means are provided to direct the heated air downwardly of the drum and the bottom of said drum is centrally apertured to permit the passage of heated air downwardly through said drum. 7 V

3. Snow melting apparatus as in claim 2 wherein a pair of annular rims extend from the bottom of said drum in. overlapping relation and on either side of theannular burner to protect the burner from melted snow and direct. substantially all the heated air through said vertical tubes.

4. Snow melting apparatus as in claim 3 wherein 5. Snow melting apparatus as in claim- 1 wherein a door is provided on said casing and a vertically slidable door is provided on said shell and the portions of the vertical tubes disposed adjacent said shell door are fastened thereto and are arranged in telescoping fashion with the adjacent portions of the so attached tubes to permit vertical movement of the shell door, said shell door being registerable Withsaid casing door to permit access to the interior of said drum.

References Cited in. thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

